


What Started In Beautiful Rooms

by somefanficthoughts



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Ambassador Sokka (Avatar), Angst, Background Relationships, Homophobia, M/M, Minor Mai/Ty Lee (Avatar), Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-05
Updated: 2020-12-05
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:46:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 878
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27896272
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/somefanficthoughts/pseuds/somefanficthoughts
Summary: They change the laws.Zuko is still married,And Sokka still hides in the shadows.
Relationships: Sokka/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 50





	What Started In Beautiful Rooms

**Author's Note:**

> Ok so I tagged this aged-up characters. By that I mean that for the sake of writing aesthetics I made Sokka a couple of months older so he and Zuko are the same age. 
> 
> Also, I never know what to tag so if you have any ideas please let me know.
> 
> Feel free to leave any constructive criticism or just comments at all :)

They’re 16.

The war is over and the burden of the world in now placed on their shoulders.

Sokka stays in the Fire Nation, under the title of Southern Water Tribe Ambassador. Zuko secretly thinks it’s because Sokka’s worried about him.

Zuko doesn’t sleep well these days. There’s always more work to be done, amendments to be made, laws to be passed. 

Then the first assassination attempt happens, and it feels as if Zuko never sleeps again. 

Sokka catches on pretty quickly, recognising the ever-present bags under Zuko’s eyes, he’d had the same ones throughout the war.

Sokka now stays with him until he falls asleep, or on the nights he simply can’t, will stay up discussing policy until the sun rises.

It means more to Zuko than Sokka will ever know.

It means more to Sokka than Zuko will ever know.

They’re 17.

Sokka kisses him under the cherry blossom tree next to the turtle-duck pond and Zuko breaks away.

Sokka finds him later, curled up and crying on his bed. Zuko never used to cry, it’s all he seems to do these days.

“I’m sorry,” Sokka says.

“It’s not your fault.” Zuko leaves it there, it doesn’t matter what he feels. He’s the Fire Lord, and this can never happen.

They’re 18.

There’s another assassination attempt. They happen all the time, but this one nearly works.

No-one’s allowed to see Zuko, only the doctors and guards. A council meeting is called, they start discussing succession plans. They think Zuko is going to die.

Sokka doesn’t know what to do. Everything feels wrong as if the world suddenly started spinning the other way, and none of them noticed.

A medic announces Zuko will survive, but they’re unsure how long recovery will take. He knows he shouldn’t, knows how it’ll look, but he rushes straight to Zuko’s rooms.

Zuko is asleep in his bed, a sight Sokka has seen a hundred times, but it all feels wrong.

He’s too pale, too bruised, too still.

Sokka sits on a chair next to the bed, determined to not to sleep until Zuko awakes.

(it doesn’t work.)

In the morning with the rising sun, Zuko’s eyes flicker open, landing on Sokka’s slumped figure.

“Sokka,” he whispers, taking the other boys hand. Because that’s what they are after all, not Fire Lords and Ambassadors, boys. 

Sokka jerks awake, taking a moment to process his surroundings. “Zuko,” he says like a prayer, willing it to be real and not another dream of a loved one ripped from him all too early.

Zuko presses forward, still too weak for the kiss to be more than a gentle brush.

He’s not quite sure why he does it, and yet it’s the only certain thing in the world.

They’re 19.

Sokka already slept in Zuko’s rooms, but now he stays the whole night.

They become familiar with one another’s screams.

Sokka knows when Zuko’s nightmares are filled with flame and chains and guilt. Zuko knows when Sokka’s nightmares are filled with fear and loss and Zuko. 

Those nights are the hardest when he dreams of someone that no longer exists, but is mirrored in the face beside him.

They fit together this way so simply, Sokka and Zuko, Zuko and Sokka. 

It’s not exactly a secret, the whole palace seems to have an idea of what’s going on but it goes unsaid.

The Fire Lord needs a political alliance within the Fire Nation. A Fire Lady. An heir.

So they are them in private, and their roles to the world.

They’re 20.

They had two years of love, two years of peace. When have they ever been so lucky? Zuko should have seen it coming.

At first, it’s only briefly mentioned in a council meeting, then increasingly repetitive questions from advisors, it’s finally raised as a topic of discussion. When will Zuko marry?

He’s so proud of the work he’s done, of the change they’ve created within the Fire Nation. But old laws die slowly, and the impacts of Sozin’s reign still remain.

It’s supposed to be illegal for him to even be with Sokka, much less marry him.

Because he would, without a second thought. He’s known for years, maybe even since the war days, that Sokka is the only person he wants to live with, to die beside.

Zuko would ask Mai, and she would say yes. But he can’t force her to live a life she could never love. And she’d be much happier staying with Ty Lee in the Earth Kingdom anyway.

And so the council searches for a match.

They find one, the firstborn daughter of a rich noble, one who controls large portions of Fire Nation agriculture and supported Zuko’s coronation.

Her name’s Aiya. She’s reserved and thinks before speaking and follows all court protocol and couldn’t be further from Sokka. And Zuko will marry her.

The ceremony is grand, the council sparing no expense. It feels as if all of Caldera bears witness, the nobles draped in their finery, the citizens crowding in the square, excited to watch a once in a lifetime event. 

All of Caldera except the one person he wishes was here, the one person he wishes was standing opposite him.

All Zuko feels is hollow.


End file.
